Knitting machine



Aug. 27, 1940. H, HQEPPNER 2,213,005

' KNXTTING MACHINE Filed Dec. 6, 1937 2 S11eets-$heet l 68 48 66 a2 80 76 92 419 4g 1 a Aug. 27, 1 H. HOEPPNER KNITTING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 6, 1937 INVE TOR BY Fad/41M .zjm y A! ORNEYS Patented Aug. 27, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT @FFNE KNITTING MACHINE Application December 6, 1937, Serial No. 178,367 In Germany December '7, 1936 6 Claims.

The present invention relates to improvements in fiat knitting machines, and more particularly to mechanism for driving and controlling the operation of selected yarn carriers in a flat fullfashioned knitting machine.

It is a principal object of the invention to provide novel and improved mechanism for reciprocating in alternation selected carriers of a flat full-fashioned type knitting machine in accordance with the so-called three carrier ringless system of knitting, which mechanism will be of simpler construction, and more positive and efiicient in operation to effect the substitution of one active carrier for another at each end of the knitting stroke.

With this and other objects in view, as may hereinafter appear, a principal feature of the invention consists in the provision of a driving friction member having mounted thereon a connecting element which is movably supported for driving engagement alternatively with any one of the carriers in the three carrier system, together with pattern mechanism which is rendered operative at the end of each knitting stroke for shifting the connecting element to substitute one carrier for another selected carrier in active operation.

The several features of the invention consists also in the devices, combinations and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and claimed, which together with the advantages to be obtained thereby will be readily'understood by one skilled in the art from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a sectional view in right side elevation of a flat full-fashioned knitting machine of ordinary description, illustrating particularly the main yarn carriers employed in the knitting of three carrier ringless hosiery, the driving friction and operating connections from the main cam shaft for shifting active carriers; Fig. 2 is a plan view of substantially the mechanism' shown in Fig. 1, illustrating particularly the driving and controlling mechanism for substituting one carrier for another in active operation in accordance With the three carrier system; and Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2, and illustrating on a larger scale a portion of the mechanism for shifting active carriers shown in Fig. 1, but with the parts in a different position, so that the driving friction is operatively connected with another carrier.

The invention is disclosed in the drawings as embodied in a flat full-fashioned knitting machine. of ordinary description. hav ng the usual transverse supporting frames I0 connected by a longitudinally extending. rear rail l2, a sinker rail l4, and a work supporting table l6 extending along the length of the machine. The machine is provided with the usual knitting instrume I talities including spring beard needles l8 mounted on needle bars 26, sinkers 22 slidably supported in a sinker head 24 fixed to the sinker rail l4, and knockover elements 26. These parts are supported and are operated in a manner usual in these machines through connections from the main cam shaft 28. v

The yarn is fed to each of the several knitting sections through the agency ofyarn carriers 30 which are supported on a plurality of yarn carrier rods which extend along the length of the machine, and are supported to slide in brackets 32 secured to the sinker rail [4. Three of these carrier rods to be hereinafter more specifically referred to in connection with the operation of the three carrier system, are designated respectively at 34, 36 and 38.

The mechanism provided in accordance with the present invention, for securing an alternating drive of the three carriers 34, 36 and 3B in accordance with the three carrier system of operation, comprises a slide 46 which is sleeved for movement lengthwise of the machine on two stationary supporting rods 42 and 44. The slide 40 has secured thereto a forward extension 46 which takes the form of a slide support on which is carried the connecting member 46 having formed thereon a downwardly extending lug 50 which is arranged for engagement alternatively with carrier dogs 52, 54 and 56 carried respectively on the carrier rods 34, 36 and 33. -,The slide member 40 is operatively connected by means of a link bar 58 with a friction box 60 on a friction driving rod 62 which is given a continuous reciprocatory movement from the conventional Coulier motion of the machine (not shown). The friction box 66 is additionally supported by means of a rearwardly extending fork 64 having a sliding engagement with the stationary rod 42.

In accordance with the present invention, mechanism is provided which is controlled from the main cam shaft 28 of the machine, and is operative at the end of each yarn feeding movement to shift the position of the connecting member 48 to substitute oneaetive carrier for another in active operation, in accordance with a predetermined pattern whereby the three carrier'rods and carriers 30 supported thereon are rendered operative successively in rotation to feed yarn to the needles. The connections for controlling the position of the connecting member 48 comprise a link 66 pivotally supported at its forward end by means of a pin 68 on the connecting member 48, and at its rear end sleeved to slide on a rod 70 which is in turn carried on two lever arms 12 and I4 pivotally mounted on the stationary rod 44. The levers l2 and 14 together with the longitudinally extending rod 10 form the frame of a control lever which serves to determine the position of the connecting member 48 on its slide support 46 independently of the movement of the slide 40 with the carrier friction 60 lengthwise of the machine. The angular position of the lovers l2 and 14 is controlled through a pattern mechanism including a crank motion device which comprises an eccentric cam 16 supported on a rotatable shaft 18, and having mounted thereon an eccentric strap which is connected by a link 82 with the connecting rod 76 for the lever arms 72 and 14. The shaft 18 and eccentric T6 are rotated through a third revolution during each knitting cycle to cause the connecting member 48 to be shifted in rotation to each of three different positions in which the lug 58 will be engaged successively and in the same order with the stop dogs on each of the carrier rods 34, 36 and 38. The shaft 18 is driven from a second parallel shaft 84 through connecting gears 86 and 88 carried respectively on the two shafts, and having a two to one ratio. The shaft 84 is in turn driven from a main cam shaft of the machine through a pawl and ratchet connection which is arranged with each rotation of the main cam shaft 28 to turn the shaft 84 through one-sixth of a revolution, and through the connecting gears 86 and 88 to impart one-third of a revolution to the shaft 18 and eccentric 16. These connections include the ratchet 90 on the shaft 84, and a cooperating pawl 92 which is carried on a pawl lever 94 loosely sleeved on the shaft 84. The pawl lever 94 is connected by a link 96 with a lever 98 secured to a rock shaft I00 which also has secured thereto a downwardly extending cam lever I02 provided with a roller Hi4 which is arranged to ride on a cam I86 on the cam shaft 28. A tension spring I08 connected at one end to the cam lever I02 and at its other end to an eye bracket H0 on the machine frame, acts to maintain the cam roller I04 at all times in engagement with its cam I06.

The operation of applicants mechanism for traversing the carrier rods 34, 36 and 38 successively in rotation in accordance with the three carrier system of knitting, may be briefly described as follows:

Starting with two of the carrier rods 34, 36 and 38 located at one end of their traverse, and the other carrier rod at the other end of its traverse, one of the first-mentioned carrier rods and the yarn carriers associated therewith, will be operatively connected to the slide 48 and friction 60 to feed yarn. It may be assumed, for example, that the lug 56 is engaged with the carrier dog 56 on rod 38, and has just completed its traversing stroke from left to right. At the end of this knitting stroke, the cam 16 will be rotated as previously described, from the position shown in Fig. 3, causing the lug 50 to be disconnected from the dog 56 and to be moved into engagement with the dog 52 on carrier rod 34, this being the position shown in Fig. 2. The carrier 34 is now traversed from right to left, when a further rotation of the cam 16 through another 120 will cause the lug 50 to be disconnected from the dog 52, and to engage with the dog 54 on carrier 36 as shown, for example, in Fig. 1. It may be assumed that the length of stroke of each of the carrier rods is controlled by means of carrier stops (not shown) which may be of ordinary description. These stops for the several carrier rods are arranged with relation to one another to cause each carrier rod at the end of its knitting stroke to stop in a position which corresponds exactly with the idling position of the carrier rod which is to be connected for feeding yarn on the return knitting stroke, so that the carrier dogs will always be properly aligned to permit the connecting member 48 and lug 50 to be shifted from one to another of the carrier dogs 52, 54 or 56, as the case may be, at each reversal in the direction of the knitting stroke.

It will be understood that the invention is not limited to the specific embodiment shown, and that various deviations may be made therefrom without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a flat knitting machine, the combination with a needle series and yarn feeding carriers, of three yarn carrier rods, a reciprocating friction rod, a friction member driven thereby, a connecting member supported to move with the friction member and shiftable to form a driving connection alternatively with selected carrier rods, means for shifting the connecting member including an eccentric cam and eccentric strap, and means responsive to operation of the machine for rotating the cam through a third of a revolution after each knitting stroke.

2. In a flat knitting machine, the combination with a needle series and yarn feeding carriers, of three yarn carrier rods, a reciprocating friction rod, a friction member driven thereby including a slide support extending transversely of the carrier rods, a connecting member shiftable on said slide support for driving engagement alternatively with each of said carrier rods, a main cam shaft for the machine, and pattern mechanism comprising an eccentric cam and connections from the main cam shaft for imparting a third of a revolution thereto for each revolution of the cam shaft, an eccentric strap associated with said eccentric cam, and connections therefrom for shifting the connecting member from one to another of each of three alternative carrier rod engaging positions.

3. In a fiat knitting machine, the combination with a needle series and yarn feeding carriers, of a plurality of carrier rods, a reciprocating friction rod, a friction member driven thereby having rigidly mounted thereon a slide support extending transversely of the carrier rods, a connecting member shiftable on said slide support for driving engagement alternatively with selected carrier rods, a crank motion device, for shifting the connecting member including a rotatable shifting element operable as a crank, a positive connection between the connecting member and shifting element for positively shifting said connecting member in both directions of its movement, and means responsive to machine operation for imparting incremental rotational moveemnts to the shifting element to substitute one carrier rod for another in active operation.

4. In a flat knitting machine, the combination with a needle series and yarn feeding carriers, of a plurality of carrier rods, a reciprocating frictempos tion rod, a friction member driven thereby, a connecting member supported to move with the friction member and shiftable to form a driving connection alternatively with selected carrier rods, means for shifting the connecting member including an eccentric cam and eccentric strap, and means responsive to operation of the machine for imparting incremental rotational movements to the eccentric cam to substitute one carrier rod for another in active operation.

5. In a flat knitting machine, the combination with a needle series and yarn feeding carriers, of a plurality of carrier rods, a reciprocating friction rod, a friction member driven thereby, a connecting member supported to move with the friction member and shiftable to form a driving connection alternatively with selected carrier rods, means for shifting the connecting member including an eccentric cam and eccentric strap, a rotatable driving element, and connections for driving the cam from said element but at a slower rate, and means responsive to operation of the machine for imparting incremental rotational movements of predetermined extent to said driving element to substitute one carrier rod for another in active operation.

6. In a flat knitting machine, the combination with a needle series and yarn feeding carriers, of three yarn carrier rods, a reciprocating friction rod, a friction member driven thereby, a connecting member supported to move with the friction member and shiftable to form a driving connection alternatively with selected carrier rods, a crank motion device for shifting the connecting member including a rotatable shifting element operable as a crank, a positive connection between the connecting member and shifting element for positively shifting said connecting member, and means responsive to operation of the machine for rotating said rotatable shifting element through successive increments of a third of a revolution to substitute each of said carrier rods successively for another in active operation.

HELLMUTH HOEPPNER. 

